Bassett lose on return to action

WOOTTON Bassett managed to beat the weather on Saturday, but they couldn’t get the better of Trowbridge as they were defeated 19-0 in wet conditions.

While a host of games were postponed after thawing snow waterlogged pitches across the region, Trowbridge’s Ashton Park pitch was deemed playable at 10am on Saturday morning, enabling the Southern Counties South clash to go ahead.

What followed was a game of rugby in which the extremely wet surface played a major part, and Bassett captain David Martin believes the conditions played into the home side’s hands as their big pack of forwards led them to victory.

“It was pretty wet and it was a last-minute pitch inspection in the morning, and we still didn’t know until 10am which didn’t really give us a lot of time to prepare for the match before we left,” he said.

“There was standing water in places and it was a big ask for us, but I think in the end the scoreline flattered Trowbridge a little bit.

“ They had a breakaway try and then a couple of tries from their big forwards, so it certainly played into their hands given they had the bigger pack.

“It was a tough day for all of the players I think, and even though they had three yellow cards during the game we weren’t able to take advantage.

“We took on a big pack well so there are positives to take from the game for sure, and we played for 80 minutes in difficult conditions which was hard. “We have some consistency in selection at the moment too which is obviously good.”

A victory for Walcot over the weekend saw Bassett drop to third bottom in the table while Oakmeadians closed the gap with a success of their own over Corsham, and Martin believes his side need to find a new sense of focus if they are to avoid become embroiled in a relegation battle.

“We have games to target coming up soon, and maybe Trowbridge away in January was not one we looked at and thought we could win,” he said.

“Some of the results didn’t go our way at the weekend with teams around us winning, and that should bring it home to the lads that we don’t get caught up in this relegation battle by winning our targeted games.”

Elsewhere, Swindon’s home clash with Salisbury was postponed on Friday, while Swindon College Old Boys and Supermarine also saw their games postponed.